International Law

Cadwalader Boosts Bankruptcy Practice

In an ongoing effort to amp up its financial restructuring practice in the U.S. and abroad, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft has hired another six attorneys this week and plans to add more in London. That follows the firm’s addition of more than a dozen lawyers to the practice area earlier…

Sep 20, 2007 11:37 PM CDT

EU Court: No In-House Counsel Privilege

Highlighting the differences between American law practice and international law practice, the second-highest court in the European Union ruled today that attorney-client privilege does not apply to communications between companies and their in-house counsel. Contending that attorney-client privilege applied, a Dutch chemical company and lawyers’ groups had sought to exclude…

Sep 17, 2007 11:42 PM CDT

US to Lawyers: Explain Suspect Skivvies

The U.S. military is investigating how several prisoners at Guantanamo Bay came to be wearing unauthorized underwear, and among those it is questioning are their attorneys. A letter sent last month by the Office of the Navy Judge Advocate General to a lawyer with Reprieve, a British human rights group…

Sep 15, 2007 1:23 AM CDT

New Partnership Alternatives in UK

Struggling to reduce the number of departing lawyers, a number of London law firms are creating alternatives to partnership. A survey of 59 leading British firms found that two-thirds of those in the city now allow career attorneys to work in unspecified senior lawyer positions, compared to a smaller percentage…

Sep 13, 2007 5:42 PM CDT

Muslim Religious Freedom Movement Sparks Threats

An organized movement to allow Muslims to renounce their faith has prompted death threats and reportedly made its leader the most talked-about public figure in the Netherlands. The campaign for religious freedom was launched yesterday, on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, by the Committee for Ex-Muslims.…

Sep 12, 2007 6:48 PM CDT

PI Switches Sides, Offers Alibis for Affairs

After 20 years of working as a private investigator, Regine Mourizard decided there had to be a better way of handling extramarital affairs. So the 50-year-old French mother of two switched sides, and opened a company to help clients construct ironclad alibis that will persuade even the most suspicious spouse,…

Sep 12, 2007 6:02 PM CDT

UK Sisters: Treat Us Like Lesbians

In a case that should strike a chord with other alternative families, two British sisters in their 80s have become unlikely activists for reform of the United Kingdom’s inheritance and tax laws. Joyce and Sybil Burden, who have lived together all their lives, are afraid that the survivor will be…

Sep 11, 2007 11:16 PM CDT

‘TB Lawyer’ Fights to Regain Practice

Less than six months ago, life seemed good for Andrew H. Speaker, even though he’d been diagnosed with tuberculosis. The young personal injury lawyer was getting married, and about to start his own practice in Atlanta. Then he became the subject of international disapprobation for allegedly endangering others by taking…

Sep 10, 2007 10:17 PM CDT

Client’s YouTube Lawyer Video Banned

A disgruntled client can’t post video clips on YouTube complaining about his lawyer’s allegedly bad work and big bills, a Canadian judge has ruled. Superior Court Justice William Jenkins also said that client Stan Hall can’t post any further videos about lawyer Paul Ledroit without court permission, reports the London…

Sep 10, 2007 9:45 PM CDT

Weil to Add 2 Asia Offices; Tokyo Next?

Corrected: Two New York City-based corporate partners of Weil Gotshal & Manges are moving to Hong Kong to open a new firm office there, and the firm also plans a Beijing presence. Partners Akiko Mikumo and Peter Feist, along with Shanghai partner David Meredith and two associates, will establish the…

Sep 6, 2007 8:06 PM CDT

Court OKs Sleeping Judge at Jury Trial

Saying that a jury trial requires a judge’s physical presence rather than his attention, a divided Australian appeals court panel decided that a slumbering judge did not require retrial of two men convicted on drug charges. Each was sentenced to more than a decade in prison. The judge, who suffered…

Sep 6, 2007 6:07 PM CDT

Mom’s in Cold Storage, But That’s Legal

Two British sisters who have kept their mother’s body in cold storage at a London funeral home for a decade as they visited her there almost weekly have broken no laws. But family friends are now trying to end the two 50-something sisters’ practice of regularly sitting with their 84-year-old…

Sep 6, 2007 4:32 PM CDT

Claim of Midnight Trip Delays Noriega Extradition

A federal judge has delayed the extradition of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to France following a defense claim that the government planned to sneak him out of the country to avoid further litigation. Noriega has served a U.S. sentence for narcotics trafficking and was awaiting extradition to France for…

Sep 6, 2007 12:44 PM CDT

Law Prof Battled Bush at the White House

What many contend was an excessive use of executive power by President George W. Bush is suddenly the topic of the month. An insider who happens to be a law professor has written something of a tell-all book on the subject, and major publications are vying to offer the most…

Sep 6, 2007 12:29 AM CDT

Judge: Put Entire UK in DNA Database?

A senior judge in Great Britain has ignited a national DNA debate by suggesting that all citizens—and all visitors to the United Kingdom—should be included in a database of DNA profiles. However, the country’s prime minister says no such plan is now on the drawing board. Including everyone in the…

Sep 5, 2007 7:31 PM CDT